Intention: do no harm and deal with it, life and business has no guarantees and no permanence;

Lead with questions, not answers to gain understanding (not manipulation);

Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion, collusion, or control;

Conduct pre and post autopsies, without blame, no finger-pointing, instead lend a hand;

Build in red-flag mechanisms into meetings, conferences, workshops to monitor escalate the issues;

Choose the right attitude: What you bring and focus on is where you go, mind your attitude, never give up in resolving the truthful facts in the interest of business or group goals;

It’s an iterative process, there is "no silver bullet;"

Test and evaluate facilitation methods and models that work;

Confronting brutal facts is always context driven and individualised; if you think you already know the answer to process the outcome you have just broken facilitation boundaries; always question and re-question;

Beware of using the same old text book frameworks and models, they don’t always hold up. Keep aware. Innovate.

Our Professional Facilitators know the power is in the context, people and the process.

Got a brutal facts discussion that has to happen?Need a hand? What’s the cost of not getting a professional in?Let us help you do it. Aprofessional facilitator shows you the skills in action, giving you the confidence to do it yourself.

Think about all the processes in your workplace or business that don't add value.

How did they get there and why? Who designed them? Who did they design them for?

Sound familiar? Sure it does.

The critical starting point for any organisation is value. This can only be defined by the ultimate customer or end user. In any process there are value-adding and non-value-adding activities.

The customer is only interested in value-adding activities which meet their expectations.

Successfully facilitating business process improvement, process mapping and implementing Lean Six Sigma initiatives are a fine art and an advanced practitioner skill. Imagine having more confidence and skills to run meetings, design and facilitate new projects, bring about successful improvement programs, organisational change and manage cross boundary initiatives with limited resistance and rework.

It's possible with Professional Facilitators Australia.

We are sharing our knowledge, insights, skills from June to September. Register your interest now for the Executive Business Improvement Facilitation Program.

4 Facilitation Questions to help you Improve the Value Curve in your organisation.

Create: Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?

Raise: Which factors should be raised well above the the industry’s standard?

Reduce:Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard?

Eliminate:Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?

Our facilitation difference is we help groups "be dynamic, be relevant, be focused"

Strategic Planning and Implementation Facilitator, Matt Cartwright helps small, medium and large businesses make the most from their limited resources, their business opportunities & make the best of their customer and staff experiences. Many strategic initiatives and business improvements fail or fall below expectations due to inadequate design and delivery. On analysis, alignment, implementation and re-evaluation are poorly managed. One of the major failures is process execution, energy and evaluation.

"Within Challenge, Change Exists” ( Quote: Matt Cartwright 2013)Within group forums and meetings it's always a Challenge 2 Change the mindset, behaviours or group attitudes. We all have an interest in one's own preservation, it's natural and instinctual. We are often risk averse and loss intolerant.

Groups are a powerful disabler and enabler to change. In the facilitation world what matters is the depth of the appreciation, observation and reflection in the meeting. We are evolving, groups are evolving. No matter what, “Remember that what gets talked about and how it gets talked about – determines what will happen, or won't happen.” (Susan Scott)

Simple steps to facilitating engagement and change in diverse groups involves everyone's point of view, try these questions: 1.Where are we now2.Where do we want to be3.How will we get there4.What needs to change

Make sure you use a professional facilitator who understands your business and runs strategic planning meetings regularly.

Conduct external and internal research of the business before the meeting.

Collect employee’s thoughts and opinions and hold a series of pre-meetings if you have a large group of people who need to be involved.

Make sure everyone understands the process of the strategic planning steps upfront.

Strategic management should be habit not an event. Hold a strategy meeting more than once a year.

Strategic planning meetings are exhausting therefore a focus on the outcomes is critical than following an exact agendada. However have an agenda to maintain some structure. If you don't get through the agenda, plan another meeting or assign tasks for outstanding items.

Get everyone engaged by making sure they feel secure and comfortable in the right environment.

Address the elephant in the room with key people who have concerns beforehand.

End the session on a high note, ensure that the group discuss a future vision of success in real, tangible and inspiring terms, get them creating vivid images or descriptions of what success will look like and feel like.

Within a week of the planning meeting, send out agreed timelines that contains the next steps and deadlines for completing the plan.

Send a date for the next meeting to review the plan. Send out the plan whether it is complete or not.

Make the strategic planning meeting outcomes visible and communicated in a common work area.

The Below conversation has always stuck with me. CFO asks his CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave the company?” CEO answers, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

Staff development is more than a good idea. When facilitated successfully it gives your team the ability to change their approach, improve business outcomes and client relationships.It's like a holiday away. It easier to stay at home and save the money. Or, spend a little on doing something different. Sometimes you don’t think you need to get away. My experience is when you do get back you experience clarity of focus and decision making and fresh perspective.

Who is holding your people development back in your organisation? Who has locked up the investment funds?Start Your Business CaseWhen pitching for coaching, facilitation, stakeholder engagement development programs to your decision makers, make sure you outline the expected benefits realisation, the measurable benefits to the organisation, the benefits to the customer, and the benefits to you. Always look for levering and multiplying benefits.

It also useful to outline the dis-benefits of not getting in the experts to pass on their skills, experience and knowledge.All the best.

Facilitation in Government: Public Sector Renewal Starts with Better Engagement

Do you want a Professional Facilitator to save you time, effort, money and help you be more productive, efficient and effective without doing more with less? Then maybe our company should be facilitating your future engagements. Professional Facilitators Australia is here to support all Australian Government engagements. Renewal starts with us… Our facilitation approach is to help the new government respond with agility, innovation, transparency and real engagement with the community and business sector. We understand the tension of managing the internal and external balance, ensuring the right balance between managing internal organisational efficiency and effectiveness and externally delivering good growth.

A useful facilitation process always starts with important questions “what are the issues, who is the customer, what are their needs, how do we know that, where are they, how are we involving them, if not, why not?” We have a solid track record of government based facilitation and we actively encourage agencies to commence engaging with us early. Is it worth the risk of undertaking government and stakeholder engagements without the professional facilitation or business background? It’s like us asking you this question. “Would you re-wire the electricity system of your own house?” Generally you wouldn’t. Most of you would hire a licensed electrician, and if you don’t then you should, your putting your life and that of others at risk. Engage a professional, the public expect it. Simply, we save you money, time and lower the engagement risk and achieve far greater outcomes than you can internally. That’s our promise and our difference. Put us to the test….This is our Profession. We are your insurance policy against failed engagements, meetings and conferences. Our company is here to help you with the renewal and the balancing of government engagements. We understand the challenges of the public sector and the increasing community expectations. We are here to facilitate your outcomes timely.Get Glocal Our experience informs us that there must be more collaboration, more community engagement, more action, more accountability and more getting “Glocal”, thinking global, acting local. Our company has the capabilities on hand, no down time, quick startups, a fluid team and no bureaucracy. We are more effective, efficient and sustainable because our business model is adaptive, responsive and innovative. We are not constrained by office locations or political or power based agendas. We are neutral, unbiased and focused on process and outcomes. You can be confident, assured and trust that our Government Facilitation approach is:

Citizen-centric

Sustainable

Strategic

Glocal

Affordable

Engaging

Professional

Transparent

Innovative

Ethical

Facilitating in Government, yes there is a real difference and even more so with new policies ahead. We’ll ensure your agency and its stakeholders are at the very centre of the engagement. We’ll strategically help you build the assets for society and embed sustainability processes to minimise the risk and maximise the renewal for good growth. Not in government, but in business?If you’re in your business, well I guess you’re in luck. Please call us so you learn about having the edge in your market place. Look at one of our clients said recently:

“Matt facilitated a workshop for a day and a half for our sales team and it was a huge success! Not only are we now reaping the rewards from a top line revenue generation point of view, his ability to bring a diverse team together to achieve a united vision has strengthened our personnel professionally and personally and inspired other departments to follow our above and below the line principles to achieve maximum results and improved communications. His attention to detail prior to the workshop was excellent and he took the time to research and knows our team prior to the workshop allowing us to get on with the strategies and objectives at hand.” Remember we facilitate outcomes that most business can’t do for themselves, that’s the difference and the real value of working with Professional Facilitators Australia. Facilitators are better listeners, ask smarter questions, know better processes, and manage groups far more effectively. They have diverse industry backgrounds. Spring TIP:If you are not innovating, not engaging, not networking, not strategizing, not taking action, not changing, not designing, not monitoring, not restructuring then you’re not well placed and at more risk than those that are. Growth starts here:What’s your excuse? What needs to change? What’s being avoided? What’s holding you back? What if you took action, what might happen? What will happen if you don’t take action? Good business is critical to us all and our future economy, we work better together. Get the help of a Professional Facilitator. Act now.

On the Couch, it’s time for Business Therapy, Join in the ACTSave your team, your business, and save yourself. Here are six steps that help in managing the nuances of working with others, groups and yourself. Does it work? Try it and find out. Practising ACT is a choice and a way of working and living with more meaning and purpose. Adapted from the original Third Wave ACT works of Steve Hayes Harris 1986.

Be Present. Means just that. Be psychologically present: focus on and connect with whatever is happening right here, right now. Tomorrow may never come. Drink coffee without thinking. Just try it. Just enjoy the coffee, the smell, the texture, every sip without the bullshifting that goes on between the thoughts like email, the next meeting and the next report etc. Step back. Defuse the situation. It means learning to step back or detach from unhelpful thoughts and worries. I also do it with people as well. Instead of getting caught up in your thoughts, or pushed around by them or others, or struggling to get rid of them, just let them come and go - as if they were just cars driving past outside your house. The idea is to step back from and you and your thinking, so you can respond effectively - instead of getting tangled up or lost inside your thinking. The key is rather than reacting to colleagues, suppliers or customers just respond. It doesn't mean you don’t deal with issues, you do, and assertively. Just respond and defuse reactions. Acceptance. Remember S#*t happens. Well yes it does and this means you need to make room for annoying, worrying, irritating and frustrating thoughts and feelings. The key is in the song “Let it Be.” Let go of the struggle with people and your own irritating thoughts. Imagine giving your head being a big makeover, a big clean out. Is now a light, airy office space with simplicity, calmness and clarity, give it breathing space. Detangle, without getting caught up in yourself, others and the business. The more open space you create the more you open up, and the moe room you make to move the team or your business decisions. Business is an emotional roller-coaster ride, strap yourself in, hang on, and accept it you will survive. "Remember S#*t happens, the flies just differ" Get voyeuristic. That’s it, have a real good look at yourself first.Observe yourself. This is the part of you that is responsible for self-awareness and attention on what you're doing. If you are busy checking on other staff all the time you may be missing something in your own performance. Micromanagers our experts at this, they are so busy watching, controlling, managing others they lose sight of their own inadequacies making everyone’s life a misery. The key is to look at yourself, what thoughts or slogans are on the billboards of your mind? What do you look like to others? What are you doing, how are you doing it? Dual Minds. In business we have busy busy minds. The mind is made up of two parts: the thinking self - i.e. the part that is always thinking; the part that is responsible for all your thoughts, beliefs, judgments, ideas, strategies etc. And then there's the observing self - the part of your mind that is able to be aware of whatever you are thinking or feeling or doing at any moment. Without it, you couldn't develop those mindfulness skills. The key is to notice what you’re thinking about yourself, colleagues, suppliers, business decisions, customers etc. by noticing you can focus your attention on you intention. Wherever your mind is there you are…. Values.We all place importance on the value of things, products and relationships. What about the real stuff that you most care about in life and your business, for me they are the same. They run deep and are fundamentally core to your meaning and purpose, it’s why we do what we do. It’s what you stand for, it’s what matters ultimately in the big picture of one existence. What will people most say they valued about you when you’re long gone? Commitment. It’s like a business contract. Commitment is important in any good workplace or customer relationship, and most important for business growth and sustainability. It requires committed action. It means letting people go, letting people in, conducting business ethically, responsibly and without greed and deception. It means “you” Commit to action which is guided by your values - doing what matters - even if it's difficult or uncomfortable. Confront people if you have to, just ensure the intention is clear and not harmful. Although you may not be in power to let go of people easily workplace, let them go mentally, “Your fired” they still exist, they just have no place in your headroom. Facilitating Acceptance and Commitment Thinking

"Success doesn't demand a price. Every step forward pays a dividend." Many people have small goals that provide little inspiration. By contrast, it's always the people who think big who end up accomplishing the most. In his book, The Magic of Thinking Big, David J Schwarz, encourages readers to dream big--financially, personally, and in every other way--and then take the practical steps necessary to turn those big dreams into an even bigger reality. Remember what you think about expands, thoughts cause an effect. Be mindful of what you’re thinking. Success whether it be business, career, financial, personal, family, spiritual, happiness, true meaning or purpose or however you define it requires intentional action. The littlest things can inspire big ideas.

In business ensure your teams are actively encouraged to think big, disrupt old habits and network ideas. Let go of small mindedness. Be different, be better.

Mindfulness MattersOne of the most important strengths of a great facilitator is their ability to practice mindfulness. “Be fully present, detach from outcome,” I was taught. Hard to do when someone’s paying you to get two or three outcomes by the end of the session. The point is that an experienced facilitator will be mindful of the outcomes, know their process but bring out the big guns of mindfulness for more focused results.

In the late 1980’s I started practicing mindfulness to support my role in facilitating groups and teaching meditation and relaxation in mental health services. I’m not suggesting that you need therapy, but I am sharing an observation of how important mindfulness is becoming in everyday meetings, corporate culture and leadership. Now is all we have. The past does not exist, neither does future. As a concept future does exist in our minds. Many leaders our obsessed with meeting their targets and miss the wisdom of leading. Like leaders our working minds are bombarded with complex information, social networks, and demanding expectations to keep up with change. Well just remember Grasshopper… “Garbage in, Garbage out.”

Our minds can actually change the brain, that’s a scientific fact. Check out neuroplasticity for yourself. Being mindful helps manage uploads and downloads of everyday work and your personal life. What’s most important is what’s going on within your mind, because this impacts you, your team, your board and your organisation.

Vanilla flavoured, bland work places...anyone want one?Everyday meetings and workshops often operate either in hyper drive or in lack of drive. For many workplaces they have become stereotypical, vanilla flavoured, bland and template driven agendas and processes. I was reminded recently of an experience I had with a senior manager who I was a subordinate. This person was a great object of intention as I learnt how to mindfully deal with myself in understanding her need to control others. It was very obvious she was suffering and had insecurity and self-doubts. Although these experiences are never pleasant, being mindful provides more informed choice.I’m sure that I’m not the only person to have ever come across the risk averse leader or organisation paralyzed in fear, hiding behind policy, process and rigid structures. These mindless approaches result in predictable processes, predictable behaviours, predictable outcomes and predictable dissatisfaction. It’s industrialized leadership for modern world thinking. Being mindful brings about balanced responding, new choices, some not always easy or popular.

Good NewsAustralian government today is becoming more mindful with massive administrative reforms going on to address mindless systems and processes that are ineffective, inefficient and non-citizen focused. That’s the good news. The reality is that it’s a tough gig for people seeking to make the workplace better or by doing things mindfully or just differently. In groups and teams no matter where there is a cause and effect, our mindful actions may just tick someone off. My experience is that being mindful gives you extreme clarity of purpose and process and raises awareness of weaknesses in self and others and processes. It also helps to be more non-judgemental.

The good news is there is evolution. It won’t be a revolution but change is coming to an office near you. Our children are educated to be mindfully aware, creative and to question like never before. They are becoming more dynamic, open minded and better prepared with resilient skills to deal with change. They are our future leaders and they will make decisions about our future, so be mindful of that.Getting back to the present moment. The most highly skilled corporate facilitators today bring a non-text book “mindful capacity,” being fully engaged and being fully present. This does not mean they are over involved or off target, it’s just that they remain attentive to intention and engaged in “what is” and “what isn’t” said. They know how to prioritise information rapidly. Facilitating with mindfulness uses highly developed metacognitive skills accessing, switching and regulating executive brain functioning. This involves using pathways of information processing, problem solving and complex analysis to noticing limbic system responses such as fear, frustration or joy. Again not learnt straight out of a text book, mindfulness skills result in firing and wiring of neural pathways. This takes months, years and decades of practice.

Attention is a limited resource.This is important for today’s leaders. As leaders and groups see the need to do more things faster, they need to learn how to prioritise their attention and do the most important things really well. Attention is a limited resource. Paying attention to one thing comes at the expense of another. Individuals cannot give their attention to multiple things at once and hope that their brains will function at the same level as it would if focused on just one thing. Neuroscientists have concluded that multitasking is not possible. Neuroscientific research has proven that mindfulness stimulates the neuroaxis of the brain thus enhancing creative thinking, better analytical decision and problem solving and emotional regulation. So for leaders, it’s time to stop and observe the gap between the thoughts and notice what is really going on. Wisdom starts with noticing, not always doing.